Some people like to sweat out a bet for 48 hard minutes – others like immediate satisfaction. Count us as being in the latter, which is why we like to get down with NBA first scorer props. And we’ve decided to pass that knowledge on to you with our first scorer bets for October 25. Go here for NBA Championship odds.
Of course, there are plenty out there taking blind guesses at this stuff. It’s easy to pick the most popular player or look at what happened in the last game. However, we spent the time pouring through the analytics to make sure that we give you the best odds to stay in the green on these first scorer props for October 25.
Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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NBA First Scorer Props – October 25
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Portland Trail Blazers
Tipoff – 10:00 pm EST
Moda Center – Portland, OR
Broadcast – NBA TV
While we’re still working off a limited 2024-25 sample, we’ll use last year’s numbers to draw some conclusions. Based on what we saw last year, this tip should head to Portland without much issue. Deandre Ayton won 60% of the tips he took last year and the Trail Blazers scored frequently on his tip wins. The Pelicans also have an abnormally small team and have been starting Daniel Theis as their big man. He jumped just three times last year and only won one. While he won the tip – and scored first – in their first game, it was against one of the worst jumpers in the league in Nikola Vucevic.
The Blazers spread their first scores out pretty solidly during last year. Ayton himself wound up with the most, but things in general were pretty tight. I could still get behind Ayton here because of how small the Pelicans typical play, but he didn’t fire off an attempt for the first two minutes of their first game. Instead, I’m going to grab one of their shooters who can mix it up from many ranges. Anfernee Simons was the first player not named Jerami Grant to rip a shot last time out. Let’s roll with his juicy line.
First Scorer Bet for October 25: Anfernee Simons (+700)
Detroit Pistons vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
Tipoff – 7:30 pm EST
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse – Cleveland, OH
Broadcast – NBA TV
Amongst jumpers with at least half of their team’s jump balls, Jarrett Allen was second in the league – only behind Kristaps Porzingis. He won 74.1% of all of his tips, giving his team a decided avantage to scoring the first points of the game. Meanwhile, Jalen Duren won just 47.5% of his tips. The Pistons were also right around league average at scoring first. With that first possession firmly in their pocket, we’ll check out the Cavaliers depth chart in search of our play for the day.
Last year, the biggest cash cow on Cleveland in terms of the first score props was Max Strus. The Cavaliers liked to come out and fire three pointers and that got him on the board early in those games. In fact, he scored nine first buckets for them last season. Another four buckets were scored by sharpshooters filling in for him on a day off. That represents 26.5% of their overall first scores. Now he’s out hurt and will be replaced in the starting lineup by Dean Wade. While they went inside to Evan Mobley in the first game of the year, the first outside shot belonged to Wade. I like him getting an even earlier look here.
First Scorer Bet for October 25: Dean Wade (+1200)
If you’d like even more info to help make your first scorer bets for October 25, check out the NBA Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar.
